I was approved for the Taste of Platinum on Friday.

FWIW, I sent an email to [email protected] at 9AM on Wed 1/2 but didn't get a quick reply. Since I have a stay starting this weekend, I decided to call their Silver elite line on Friday morning for approval. It took less time to call, ask, and receive approval than it did for me to draft the original email. I didn't hear back re: the email until very late on Friday. YMMV.

The call went like this: Told the automated system the reason for my call was "Taste of Platinum Challenge". It asked for my MR #. On hold for 30 seconds. A very polite rep "Reese" answered and asked for the same information again. He said he would have to review my account because "we can't just give it to anyone who asks". He said he was looking at my last year history (15 stays) (about 15 seconds) and then said he was looking at future reservations (about 10 seconds). He then told me I was approved, reiterated that it was 9 *stays* not 9 nights, and confirmed I have until 4/30 to complete the stays. He also said that the change would post overnight and my new status would be active beginning Saturday (it was active at 11:30PM Central that night). 3-4 minutes total.

I believe the deciding factor for me was that I have 7 "stays" already booked for January and early February. Two of these are a single 3-night stay for two rooms using "Megabonus" certificates on a family vacation (two different confirmation #'s), the rest are paid 1 night stays at Fairfield and Springhill for legitimate planned/paid stays on business trips. However, I don't think he had enough time to look closely at any of the reservations beyond "sure looks like he has a lot of activity coming up".

So... I wouldn't encourage anyone to game the system by booking phantom stays in advance of asking for the TOG/TOP challenge, but it sure feels like that would be one way to increase your odds.

Cheers!
Gloob